One of Those People by Shannon Lise

          After “The Carousing Couple,” a painting by Judith Leyster

You would perhaps
have liked
to be one of those people

like Judith Leyster, painting
her splotchy red
faces back in the 17th century

getting other people’s signatures
forged over her own
until she was quite forgotten, but still

knowing how to capture laughter
how to make even
her unattractive characters –

the round rubber-cheeked woman
with a huge forehead,
the insecure squat-nosed man fussed

up in that ridiculous French collar
and pretending to play
violin – look happy, even pleasant

as if they’d seen the way poplar leaves
turn fuzzy silver
undersides to the sunlight. As if they

knew that sometimes it does snow
on Christmas
even in places like Abilene.

But we could’ve filled a blank Bible-
length notebook
with the things you would’ve liked to be.



Originally from Texas, Shannon Lise spent twelve years in the Middle East and currently lives with her husband in Quebec, spending as much time as possible in the woods or on the water. She also writes epic fantasy realism and is the author of the novel Keeper of Nimrah (Ethandune Publishing, 2014).